He cooked in a cauldron for our volunteers by a Somló Spring. He prepared exclusive 8 course menues for visiting wine experts from far-far away. He did slow-motion cooking for a film shooting, but sometimes he just cooked for his own enjoyment.  For us, Somló-dwellers. Although you rarely see him outside of his kitchen, he is the one you praised at all our Winemaker’s Galas, and just about any and every food-related event we organised since our opening 4 years ago. Nowadays you can mostly spot him at Tornai Winery’s restaurant, but we all agree, that Istvan Szabó is OUR Chef. He is SOMLÓ’s chef.

So we thought we give him total control of our panorama-terrace on every Friday in August.

Istvan will be serving a 6 course Somló wine-dinner on our terrace, every Friday in August, from 7 pm. The courses will be composed by him to match altogether, by the end of the month,  24 different kinds of Somló wines, coming from a total of 8 winemakers, 2 per dinner.

Of course, we know that you love our summer terrace with the winemakers: so we invited them, too. They will be introducing the wines Istvan choose from their repertoires in person.

At the end of each dinner, we are going to ask you to vote for the best food-wine pairing. For the winning combination, we will publish the recipe, and a detailed description of the wine online.

Or maybe, who knows, we might even print a Somlo-ey recipe-photo bookey-thingy. Since Gabor Nagy ( our photographer, also with us for the past 4 years ) will be documenting each dinner.

Dates and Winemakers: 
August 5: Lajos Takács and Bálint Barcza – Facebook Event with winemaker-portraits and daily updates. Photo album here, winning recipe here.
August 12: Peter Toth and Istvan Polyak ( Tornai Winery )- FB Event , Photoalbum
August 19: Zoltán Balogh ( Somlói Apátsági Pince ) and Tamás Kis ( Somlói Vándor Pince ) – FB Event , Photoalbum 
August 26: Fekete Cellar and Zsirai Winery – FB Event

The food courses and their wines: 
5th August
Home – made liver paté with porcini mushrooms – Barcza – Blanka Cuvée
Smoked trout with wine-gelee – Hollóvár Sauvignon blanc
Pheasant soup – Hollóvár Furmint
Grilled goats cheese with bacon and pear – Hollóvár Hárslevelű
Pork tenderloin with chanterelles and potato gratin – Barcza Juhfark
‘Vargabéles’ traditional Hungarian cake with forest-fruit ragout – Barcza ‘Borostyán’ vin de paille

12th August
Pumpkin-seed spread with home-made bread – Tornai Friss Zenit
Local home – made smoked ham with onioin-ragout – Toth Welschriesling
Porcini soup – Toth “Quarry” Cuvet
Roasted Zander with saffron-mash and spinach – Tornai Premium Furmint
Roasted lamb with pan-vegetables and roast-onion mash – Tóth Juhfark
Home-made applestrudle with wine-mousse – Tornai Aranykönny ( ‘golden teardrops’)

19th August – with additional alternative menu for those not liking fish
Salmon paté / pumpkinseed – paté – Somlói Vándor sparkling
Marinaded Duna-river fish with salad / Local home – made smoked ham with onioin-ragout- Somlói Vándor olaszrizling
Sterlet soup with saffron / Courgette cream soup- Somlói Apátsági gewürztraminer
Seafood risotto / Porcini risotto- Somlói Apátsági furmint
Branzino / roasted chicken breast with truffle – mash – Somlói Vándor Juhfark
Kaiserschmarn with home – made jam – Somlói Apátsági Hilla cuvée
+Both winemakers are preparing to surprise us with their secret wines that are not available anywhere else 

26th August
Home-made lard-paté – Zsirai Somlai Cuvée 2011
Smoked, honey-cured chicken breast with salad  – Zsirai Somlai Cuvée 2012
Wild boar soup with porcini – semolina dumplings – Fekete Hárslevelű
Catfish-filet in batter – Zsirai Somlói Furmint
Venison with game-gravy and fried steam-dumplings – Fekete Juhfark
Strudel with grapes – Fekete sweet Juhfark 2013

So there. In August, start your weekends in style. Have a Somló Wine Dinner sprinkled with some Balaton panoramic views, where Istvan cooks, winemakers are winemakering, Gabor is photographing, the witness  mountains of Lake Balaton stand witness relentlessly, and the Sun sets beautifully behind Somló Hill.

Nah, we not doin’ anything.

Ah, maybe this: we sell the tickets. 12 000 HUF per person, with bank transfer against our invoice please, thank you. The price contains the dinner, unlimited consumption from the served wines, and a 15% discount coupon for our webshop.

We will arrange accommodation for those who ask for it. Moreover, for those wishing to stay the entire weekend, we shall dig out even more winemakers, and we may even get involved in arranging visits to their cool Somló wine cellars.

Our official partner for accommodations is 5Ház Wine Estate, where our guest enjoy a flat rate discount for their 2 and 4 bed apartments.
2 bed: 24.900 Ft/ 2 persons / with cold buffet breakfast
4 bed: 38.200 Ft/ 4 persons / with cold buffet breakfast
2 bed for one person only: 11.900 Ft / with cold buffet breakfast

We will provide transfer for you with a 9 seater minibus to our shop. This accommodation can be booked with us, and we will invoice it together with the tickets.

Book your seats by e-mail on  info@somloi.hu by midnight of every week’s Wednesday.
Kickoff is at 7 pm sharp on Fridays.
It will be absolutely delicious.
Do come.